Don't you love when Republicans talk about bipartisanship? What these gasbags like Orrin Hatch really mean is: "You better do it our way or we'll hold our breath until we turn blue and then go in the corner."
I saw him say this on CNN yesterday and as usual he was on FOX too spewing the same BS. It was typical of how conservatives think about the idea of cooperation and or [gasp] bipartisanship.
"At a time when major government programs like Medicare and Medicaid are already on a path to fiscal insolvency, creating a brand new government program will not only worsen our long-term financial outlook but also negatively impact American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice," said the letter, signed by all but one of the Finance Republicans.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Democrats would live to regret it if they insist on a public plan.
"Democrats know that if they go to a totally partisan approach like the president has suggested they're going to eat that the rest of their lives," said Hatch, who circulated the letter to Obama.
"I'll be glad to help them, but not with a public plan," Hatch, referring to the Democrats, told Fox News.
I'm for the single payer plan, but it's already been shot down by the president, so the only alternative that we can fight for is a robust "public option." This plan by the Congressional Progressive Caucus spells it out really well.
hatch's idea for public health:
http://www.nipissingu.ca/department/history/M...
And probably also crimes and punishments.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/yt-FRgYtp3HfvY/...
Linkee no workee.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Tags: Desert Eagle 50 Cal Fun
fuck you poor people!!
the end.
Watch Uber-Christian, Pat Robertson slip and say that private insurance plans could not compete with a public health care system. I don't even think he realized what he said.
http://progressnotcongress.org/?p=1666
he's an uber idiot, or I'm going to guess that God finally intervened and made that mendacious asshole spew some truth for once.
all right, i confess, i'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but i did finally come to the realization as to why i get so upset whenever the conservative element begins spewing their vile and vindictive spiel. The reason i get so angry is because these are supposedly educated people and yet they continue to give ignorant answers to complex questions. i wouldn't question the intelligence of Hatch, but then again how does he allow ignorance to reign supreme. He talks about bipartisanship and yet when obama mistakingly reached across the aisle in that spirit, he was cut down. there's just no pleasing them. then again, consider their audience.
Where was the democratic senators response? CNN at it's best, again.
fuck the GOP and FUCK the health insurance companies!
I'm sick and tired of these anti-American assholes makin it harder for the workin class to get by.
China plans universal health care
By Edward Wong
Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009
BEIJING — China announced that it intended to spend $123 billion by 2011 to establish universal health care for the country's 1.3 billion people.
The plan was passed Wednesday at a session of the State Council, the Chinese cabinet. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao presided.
Xinhua, the state news agency, said the authorities would "take measures within three years to provide basic medical security to all Chinese in urban and rural areas, improve the quality of medical services and make medical services more accessible and affordable for ordinary people."
Providing universal health care is seen by some economists as a way to stimulate domestic spending during the current economic downturn. The Chinese have a high savings rate, and one of the reasons usually cited is their concern about possible medical expenses.
Bai Zhongen, chairman of the economics department at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, said that establishing universal health care with government-financed insurance would increase general consumer spending. He said the school did a survey in 2007 about the effect of rural health insurance on consumer behavior and "found that in government-sponsored health insurance areas, people are spending more."
The government already gives many people a small subsidy to help pay for health care, but more government financing for individual health care would strengthen the economy, Bai said.
Xinhua reported that the plan approved Wednesday would aim to provide some form of medical insurance for 90 percent of the population by 2011. Each person covered by the system would receive an annual subsidy of 120 yuan, or more than $17, starting in 2010. Medicine would also be covered by the insurance, and the government would begin a system of producing and distributing necessary drugs this year.
The plan also aims to improve health centers in rural and remote areas as well as equalize health services between urban and rural areas, Xinhua reported. Furthermore, the government would begin this year to reform the operations of public hospitals.
"Growing public criticism of soaring medical fees, a lack of access to affordable medical services, poor doctor-patient relationship and low medical insurance coverage compelled the government to launch the new round of reforms," Xinhua reported.
...yet won't let go of his belt. Republicans will never accept Obama in charge.
If you're poor and then have the gall to become sick, you are un-American to these SOB's.
Public Health Plan > Private Insurance
People/ Public cannot afford Private Insurance
Private Insurance can afford Politicians
Therefor
NO PUBLIC PLAN!
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
I say FUCK the Republican obstructionists, if we can pass a public plan with the 51-vote option, DO IT. Jam it into them and break it off, to hell with this bipartisanship crap. Orrin Hatch will forever be a road block, so run over him and leave him behind like roadkill.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
Some things are too important to leave to the whims of idealogues.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Totally agree. Where was this call for bipartisanship when the Bush cabal was in power? Hmm? It was strictly "we're doing what we want, so screw you Dems!
Elections have consequences, and the repigs were thrown out on their asses. I say we push as much through Congress as possible. Fuck the repigs!
Always. Don't give an inch. America doesn't need rethugs, they are a dying breed. Good riddance!
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
get a 51-vote majority to pass it via budget reconciliation.
Harry Reid is a secret ally of the Health Insurance Parasites.
You will get what they give you, and be fucking glad you got it!
WASHINGTON – Health insurance premiums for an average family are $1,000 a year higher because of costs of health care for the uninsured, a new report finds.
And private coverage for the average individual costs an extra $370 a year because of the cost-shifting, which happens when someone without medical insurance gets care at an emergency room or elsewhere and then doesn't pay.
The report was released Thursday by advocacy group Families USA, which said the findings — which it calls a "hidden tax" — support its goal of extending coverage to all the 50 million Americans who are now uninsured. Congress and the Obama administration are working on a plan to do that.
Families USA contracted with independent actuarial consulting firm Milliman Inc. to analyze federal data to produce the findings.
"As more people join the ranks of the uninsured, the hidden health tax is growing," said Ron Pollack, Families USA executive director. "That tax hits America's businesses and insured families hard in the pocketbook, and they therefore have a clear financial stake in expanding health care coverage."
The report found that, in 2008, uninsured people received $116 billion in health care from hospitals, doctors and other providers. The uninsured paid 37 percent of that amount out of their own pockets, and government programs and charities covered another 26 percent.
That left about $43 billion unpaid, and that sum made its way into premiums charged by private insurance companies to businesses and individuals, the report said.
The major government insurance programs — Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor — are structured in a way that doesn't easily allow payments to insurers to adjust upward. And somebody has to pay.
In the case of people who are covered through their employers — most insured people under 65 are — the extra costs from the uninsured would be spread between the employer's health plan contribution and what the employee pays, but the report didn't attempt to quantify that division.
Ronald A. Williams, chairman and chief executive of Aetna Inc., gave the example of a local community hospital that provides care to someone without insurance who arrives at the emergency room. When it's not paid for, the hospital has to raise its rates to insurance companies, and they pass that on in higher premiums, Williams said.
"Our members then say, 'Well, why is health insurance so expensive?'" Williams said in an interview. "And the answer is because you're paying for your own care as well as for the care of some of the uninsured in the community."
Aetna was not involved in writing or funding the report but Williams appeared at a news conference Thursday with Families USA officials to release its findings.
___
On the Net: http://www.familiesusa.org/
is code for insurance company profits. That is what they pass on through higher premiums for those with insurance.
health care tort reform would also help ease the costs. Frivolous malpractice lawsuits still cost all of us extra in our premium bills.
I'm thinking that trying to pass this health care bill too quickly may ultimately be a bad thing. Developing complicated programs and processes that will function efficiently is a difficult task, and so I fear that this 'fast-track' bill - if it gets passed with some sort of public option - will be deficient and cause even more problems for a lot of citizens.
It would be nice if we could see some of the particulars of the plans they are discussing before they make a bad situation worse.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Give the republicans more time to have their way. Whose side are you on?
I hate to be negative but your country can't institute proper healthcare cause your BROKE!!!! HMOs' have too much power. That's the sad reality. The time to have done is long past unfortunately.
Can we rescind Sen. Hatch’s public health care plan?
...although he can certainly pay for his own care, or more likely have a health care lobbyist pay for it.
Obama has said all along that people who are happy with their health insurance can keep it. How is that "negatively impacting" anyone? Adding a public plan gives us more options, not less.
Who is happy with his insurance?
Politicians, maybe.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
They get a totally free ride for themselves and their families.
So far, I've only needed it once.
...you're fortunate.
I sure as hell didn't feel very fortunate.
Took me 2+ years to pay that shit off.
they say it will pressure the private healthCare insurance companies because the public plan will have
a UNfair advantage. what's interesting many on the right have said a public plan will fail so what are they worried about? reform is a economic necessity. most importantly people/wages haven't/can't keep up with increasing healthCare ins. cost. in addition to that how are we going to slow down outsourcing to
CHINA which is now going to a universal healthCare plan. businesses in this country can't handle the increase in healthCare ins. cost.
... of a piece of sh*t, means that you still end up with... sh*t.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJMsFGH4eoQ
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Just more laughable childish tantrums from the bedwetting, crybaby Reslugs.
"...American families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice"
Appears it's all about choice, eh. American families get to choose which insurance company will refuse their claim. Patients get to choose their own doctor and the right wing nutosphere gets to choose whether that choice is gunned down by assault rifles or blown up with C4. Win-win scenario.
A choice between a bad choice and a worse choice is really no choice.
We should NOT give up on a Single Payer Plan. Just because Obama has. It needs to be brought up at every town hall meeting and in every conference, and every TV talk show, and on every Blog. It is ridiculous to let supposed bi-partisanship, remove this option from the table. The Republicans lost, it's time they realized that they are no longer running things...and if they want to obstruct..then they should be called out for it and the public should be made aware of exactly who is doing the obstructing...and who is owned by the Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries.
At the very least a public plan had better be a part of this, or this will not be Health Care Reform, in any way shape or form. Just more of the same.
There is nothing written in stone yet...keep holding their feet to the fire.
Giving the insurance companies and their politicians a chance to make their position even stronger that it is now is what we will get out of this, especially if the public option is taken out of the equation. They think they have already killed the single-payer plan, and now they move on to the public option. It will all be about and for the insurance companies when this is over. The Dems have already given away the single-payer option, and this is before any real debate has begun. All anyone is doing in public now is posturing.
The question is - when are the Democrats going to start pointing it out? There are blatantly false ads on television about lack of choice in choosing doctors if the government gets involved - yet not one comment from a Democrat except on liberal blogs which are hardly the mass media.
We seem to cede the pr campaign to the morons every time.
"Democrats know that if they go to a totally partisan approach like the president has suggested they're going to eat that the rest of their lives," said Hatch, who circulated the letter to Obama.
"I'll be glad to help them, but not with a public plan," Hatch, referring to the Democrats, told Fox News.
I love these ultra-religious little bastards who seem to think talking tough is going to scare people into working with them. I have to wonder if anyone in DC feels like Hatch's words are a threat and whether or not they'd like to make him eat them.
Personally, I'd "be glad to help" Hatch eat his own plan. Where do I sign up for that?
Eat Me!
Cue the Kabuki....
The usual refrain from GOPers or media talking heads is: how will we pay for it. It will add trillions, the sky is falling the sky is falling. And funny how it is never the right time for health care reform; during the good times of the Clinton years, it was the same thing from these mofo GOPers and now it's because America can't afford it. B*&%*$! America already has higher per capita costs than anywhere in the world. But it is all in the hands of big corporations and they are the ones who will lose; and gawd knows we can't have that in Amercia.
why don't you give up your free insurance and find some on your own. You know, set an example for the country.
Sadly, he's already setting an example: the 23%ers love him, 'cos he won't support anything if it doesn't suit him and his reichwing pals.
It's high time we gave this asshole and his buddies the finger and pushed as much legislation through congress as possible. Lord knows, that's what they did for 8 years........
There is no such thing as bipartisanship unless it's a reference to DINOs like Lieberdouche. Modest as the "public option" is, it will be a miracle if it happens in the next two years.
already conceded the single-payer option, we would at least have something to compromise on.
The only compromise that the GOP (insurance lobby) has in mind is the one where they promise to be kindler and gentler with their clients while they have their fingers crossed behind their backs.
Health care reform is a joke.
sucks about as hard as the country does as a whole....
wheres my pitchfork....
Cue the Kabuki....
"families who enjoy the private coverage of their choice"
I don't know of any. Everyone I know complains about ever rising premiums, the failure of insurance companies to pay for health services, network restrictions, etc. Either that or they don't have health insurance.
Hatch and his brethren are covered by a GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE PLAN that they don't want citizens to have. They are also showered with money and other perks from lobbyists representing the very insurance companies that are screwing everyone (except of course Hatch and his government-supplied health care cronies).
And to think they are killing doctors who practice abortions instead of guys like this who "insure" that millions of people suffer with medical conditions that are denied treatment or are bankrupted by medical costs despite having insurance.
because they could not afford health care. Wouldn't that be a form of conspiracy to commit murder for those who deny them coverage?The bribed politicians and the insurance companies? Let's call it what it is. Using crooked laws made by those who are part of the conspiracy as defenses cannot be allowed.
completely ignoring is that MANY MANY Americans are fed up with the insurance industry. I just received notice from my insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield, that my premium is going up $80 this year. I have paid for insurance, on my own, for the last 5 years and have used it once, for a finger abscess, for which, I had to pay just as much out of pocket expense as was covered by the insurance policy itself. And, I have been paying for the "premium" policy! This year they want to raise it $80. How much is it going to be next year and the year after? I'm fed up with the big insurance rip off. Republicans talk about how people want to keep their same coverage and don't want government to "get in between patients and their doctors". They call it government-controlled health care. What is so precious about maintaining a horribly lopsided unfair and unjust relationship with an industry that has had it's way in extorting vast amounts of money from American consumers for years? I personally don't see how that is such a sactified relationship or is one that I would want to preserve. Wouldn't it instead be a government payor of insurance and wouldn't it eliminate the capriciousness, fraud and malevolence that is so much a part of the insurance industry? Yes, it would. I have listened to some people who have studied this issue very closely for years who claim that if there were a single payer, the government would, "in one fell swoop, reduce the cost of health care in this country by 4 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. This is because it would eliminate that much waste from the administrative costs that occur within the insurance industry as a matter of course. If you get rid of the waste, overpayment and fraud that goes with paying insurance, you get the same in cost saving. There are many brilliant people who know these things and they can be called on to assist in developing true heath care reform which is what Americans are calling for happening right now. Government can tax me at a fair rate for paying my health care insurance so that I don't have to be bothered with trying to deal with an industry that is full of tricks, greed and deceit. For that, I will gladly pay x dollars in taxes and that way, if the government is paying the costs by taxes it collects from me and from all taxpayers for that very purpose, the peace of mind it gives me is well worth the fight. And, yes, I will fight for this to happen as every American who cares about this issue should do. I do believe that health care is a right and not a privilege and that's Orrin Hatch continually profiting from taking money from insurance industry lobbyists is not just morally bankrupt, but it's obstructing America from making the changes that need to be made in health care to truly reform it. Without a public payer option, there will be no true health care reform. I am one American who wants a single payer system. Nothing more. Nothing less. Universal health care for all Americans with a single payer. Now's the time to make this a reality. No more cowtowing to big special interests and appeasing the status quo. It's not working for a vast number of Americans. It's time for true change. I just hope our elected officials take it to heart. Maybe one way they might start is by stopping taking money from insurance lobbyist. Stop profiteering from taking from the lobbies that want to kill health care reform. That would be a good place for politicians to start taking action.
no one gives up power (which results in money) willingly. You have to take it from them. Why don't these people just go and spend what they have already stolen from the taxpayers and leave us in peace. Threats of trials and imprisonments for them may persuade them to go. They should not be allowed to defend themselves by saying the law allowed what they did to gain power as they are the ones who made those crooked laws. They are laughing at our struggles, I am guessing.
Obama has already back-pedalled on his single payer plan. Now watch him cave even more as he gives more and more to the health care industry. I feel sorry for all the voters out there that were duped in believing that massive and sweeping change was coming. First it was the banking industry where nothing has fundamentally changed, next it will be the health insurance industry. Something akin to the Massachusetts healthcare plan will be passed, and everyone knows how poorly that program is going. The American people will never win because our elected officials are blocking real reform and aiding and abetting the corporations that pay them off, year after year.
I don't consider what Obama's doing "backpedaling." He's pragmatist and he's looking for the best possible solution or combination of solutions to a problem that has grown signifigantly worse in the last 30 years and shows evidence of severe fiscal repercussions if not addressed. Here again, the ideological rigidity of the GOP is preventing them from having a meaningful part in the solution, but first they have to accept the fact that nobody is going to get everything he wants. If you're too busy talking smack, you're going to miss out on the rest of the conversation.
Compromise is a poor solution, especially when it means leaving crooks (for profit insurance companies that benefit by denying care) in the game. And it is not just the GOP that is blocking reform - many Dems receive huge donations from health care lobbies. The sad irony is that ALL politicians have a perfectly lovely public health care plan courtesy of our blood sweat and tears.
The Mormon Church is one of the most socialistic organizations in the world. They have their own plan and they don't want Government competition; it's part of their recruiting sales pitch.
And yes, Sen Hatch must get L.D.S. church approval before he does or says anything; I know I lived in Salt Lake City longer than he has but he will lie about it, he always does.
... the Repugs will win the health care battle! The Dems are 1. No spine, 2. On the take from the health care insurance companies.
Before the fight even started.
They never get his name right!
It is Whorrin Hatch!
Paid prostitute for corporate America.
Remember it's Whorrin Hatch, Corporate prostitute!
republicanism is a mental illness!
Dear Senator Hatch,
The American people repudiated your party, your Presidential candidate, and the Republican party's policies overwhelmingly last November. Get used to it.
When you and your colleagues give up your lavish health care plan and have to buy your own in the free market, then we will take your ideas seriously. Otherwise, we know you are just shilling for the insurance companies who are making tons of money on overpriced policies which about 40 million Americans can't afford to buy.
gffish
If his lips are moving..............he's lying!
Democrats in Congress aren't known for having spines.
I have full confidence that the Democrats will roll over, once again, for the Repuglicant's.
n/t
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
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